In mid-October, Superior announced that their web3, play and earn game would be available on Steam. Which was a bit of a surprise, because just about a year ago, Steam specifically stated that they would not be working with blockchain games. So what’s going on here?
As part of the greater gaming community backlash against NFTs during 2021-2022, Steam announced that they would not support any games that used NFTs. Other distribution platforms, such as Epic, have embraced the web3 gaming movement. But not Steam.
So it was surprising to hear the announcement from Superior that the game would be distributed on the Steam platform. After all, players can use Character\ and Weapon NFTs in Superior. Did Steam change their mind? Did Superior manage to fool them somehow? Well, as it turns out, Superior is making two versions of their game. One that is web3 enabled, with NFTs, and one that is not. As you might guess, the Steam version will be NFT free. Superior plans to offer some sort of account migration option, allowing players to move their accounts to the web3 version of the game.
And, Superior will also offer the chance for players on both versions of the game to be able to play together! So, with the greater distribution available through Steam, Superior has a chance to reach a larger audience, and potentially introduce some of those players to the world of gaming NFTs!
This is a very interesting tactic and I would not be surprised to see other games try something similar. Steam users can already add Superior to their wishlist.
What is Superior?
Superior is a co-op FPS / RPG that see players hunting down mutated superheroes and taking powers from defeated enemies to grow stronger. The game is a mission-based, cooperative, PvE experience with an evolving storyline. Missions are dynamically generated to provide varying experiences. As players progress through the missions, then have chances to upgrade their weapons and acquire various powers to help them in their quest. The farther they get, the more powerful they become, but at the same time, the challenges increase in difficulty.
When all players in a group die during a mission, the story ends, and their progress is reset. However, they do get to keep any experience acquired along the way, and use that for permanent boosts to their Characters. Players can also earn extra experience through ‘Gigs’, or daily quests. These are basic things such as kill a number of enemies, or repair a certain amount of armor.
Each Character has their own skill tree And though only three character classes are available (Ronin, Nomad, and Mirage), players have a number of customizations to choose from. Both when starting a mission, and when leveling up. At the start of a new story, players get to pick an initial power to start the game with. This, coupled with varying weapons and a number of skill options makes for a pretty wide starting base. And since each Character also customizes further as they progress through the story, Superior can be a different playthrough each time.
Superior features Weapon and Character NFTs. The game offers free Characters to play, though players who use a NFT character level up more quickly. Characters’ level caps are based on their rarity, though Characters can raise that cap via an ‘Infamy system’. Character NFTs keep their Infamy score, even when changing hands.
To learn more, visit Superior on Twitter and Discord.
Superior Playtest Video Review
Watch our Superior playtest video review from Bruno below.
